2015 NC Civic Health Index

2015 North Carolina Civic Health Index

Connections at the Heart of Our Innovation

[Feb. 9, 2015:] IEI is proud to announce the release of The 2015 North Carolina Civic Health Index.

The report highlights an extraordinary opportunity: to strengthen our communities, lift our statewide economy, and improve the bottom lines of businesses of every size by improving “civic health.” In authoring the report, the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) extends its tradition of helping North Carolinians identify consensus strategies for enhancing our future economic prosperity.

What is civic health? It is the social and economic vitality that results when citizens interact productively with their neighbors, involve themselves in community institutions, and actively engage in public issues. Communities with high levels of civic health benefit from strong social networks characterized by trust and common purpose. These networks offer essential advantages, including an enhanced innovation capacity that bolsters economic resilience and increasingly drives wealth creation. Improved civic health has proven to be a powerful potential economic differentiator.

To help guide the report’s creation and use, IEI established a Business Committee on Civic Health whose members are integrating the report’s recommendations into their respective company strategies for civic engagement.

The report also highlights IEI’s Emerging Issues Commons as a powerful tool for boosting civic engagement. Through use of the Commons, a transformative digital civic participation platform, IEI has greatly expanded our connection to citizens and their concerns statewide.

We enjoyed tremendous support throughout our report generation process from our special Advisory Committee on Civic Health. Click for a full roster of ACCH participants.